Being governor general isn’t all about making agonizing decisions regarding the state of Parliament and the political health of the country; once in a while you have to do ceremonial stuff, too. On Wednesday, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean handed over the Governor General’s Literary Awards at an Ottawa ceremony. (Photos by P. Doyle, courtesy of the Canada Council for the Arts.)

Nino Ricci gets the fiction prize for The Origin of Species (Doubleday Canada).

Odds are that Christie Blatchford, non-fiction winner for Fifteen Days (Doubleday Canada), either just said or is about to say something saucy.

Jacob Scheier, poetry winner for More to Keep Us Warm (ECW Press).

John Ibbitson won children’s text for The Landing (Kids Can Press)…

… and another Kids Can creator, Stéphane Jorisch, took children’s illustration for The Owl and the Pussycat.

Catherine Banks is either marvelling at her drama prize for Bone Cage (Playwrights Canada Press), or else she’s noticing something amiss.

Lazer Lederhendler picks up the French-to-English translation prize for his work on Nicolas Dickner’s Nikolski (Knopf Canada).

A few scenes from this year’s Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival, which wrapped in late October. (Photos by Chris Cameron, courtesy of the VIWF.)

At the opening reception: Joseph Boyden (still a couple weeks away from his Giller win), Tina Kam, Mel Hurtig, and Donna Morrissey.

Book Warehouse owner Sharman King and Raincoast Books president Allan MacDougall.

Author Susan Olding.

Musician turned author Kinnie Starr takes the podium.

Steven Galloway and Paul Quarrington share one stage …

… and Shaena Lambert and Nino Ricci share another.

In preparation for tomorrow’s Scotiabank Giller Prize gala award ceremony, the National Post has recruited a cadre of industry insiders, authors, and commentators for a special online roundtable about literary awards and their effects on the nominated titles.

The panellists are:

Moderators:
Brad Frenette and Mark Medley, National Post

Guests:
Doug Pepper, president and publisher, McClelland & Stewart
Lewis DeSoto, author of Blade of Grass, longlisted for the Booker Prize
Nino Ricci, author of The Origin of Species, 2008 Governor General’s Literary Awards nominee
Yvonne Hunter, director of marketing and publicity, Penguin Canada
Vincent Lam, author of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner
Sarah MacLachlan, president of House of Anansi
Douglas Hunter, author of God’s Mercies, 2008 Governor General’s Literary Award nominee
Martha Kanya-Forstner, editorial director, Doubleday Canada
Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans, 2008 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour winner
George Murray, moderator of Bookninja.com

Although he’s not on the official list, it appears that Pasha Malla, author of the Giller-longlisted story collection The Withdrawal Method, is also on hand for the discussion.

So far, the questions have ranged from the inane — Where will you be on Giller night? — to the provocative — Are we witnessing the emergence of a new generation of CanLit superstars?

In the early going, Doug Pepper has invited Martha Kanya-Forstner out for drinks prior to the gala, Pasha Malla has declared Lee Henderson’s novel The Man Game to be “badass,” and Nino Ricci has called literary juries “just three people horse-trading.” This roundtable discussion might be worth following.

There’s also a ticker at the bottom of the roundtable keeping track of people’s votes for which shortlisted novel should win tomorrow night. As of 12:34 this afternoon, the leader is Joseph Boyden’s Through Black Spruce, with 43% of the vote, followed by Anthony De Sa’s Barnacle Love, with 23%.

This year’s Governor General’s Literary Award shortlists were announced Tuesday morning. Watch for full coverage on the Q&Q Omni site, later today, but in the meantime, here are the English-language nominees.

Fiction

• Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (HarperCollins)
• Cockroach by Rawi Hage (House of Anansi Press)
• The Origin of Species by Nino Ricci (Doubleday Canada)
• The Lost Highway by David Adams Richards (Doubleday Canada)
• The Great Karoo by Fred Stenson (Doubleday Canada)

Non-fiction

• Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army by Christie Blatchford (Doubleday Canada)
• God’s Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery by Douglas Hunter (Doubleday Canada)
• The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek by Sid Marty (McClelland & Stewart)
• An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century by James Orbinski (Doubleday Canada)
• The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need by Chris Turner (Random House of Canada)

Children’s literature – text

• Libertad by Alma Fullerton (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
• The Landing by John Ibbitson (Kids Can Press)
• Shimmerdogs by Dianne Linden (Thistledown Press)
• Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji (Second Story Press)
• Skim by Mariko Tamaki (Groundwood Books)

Children’s Literature – illustration

• My Letter to the World and Other Poems by Isabelle Arsenault (Kids Can Press)
• The Emperor’s Second Hand Clothes by Josee Bisaillon (Smith, Bonappetit & Son)
• Yellow Moon, Apple Moon by Matt James (Groundwood Books)
• The Owl and the Pussycat by Stéphane Jorisch (Kids Can Press)
• Shin-chi’s Canoe by Kim LaFave (Groundwood Books)

Poetry

• Noise from the Laundry by Weyman Chan (Talonbooks)
• The Sentinel by A. F. Moritz (House of Anansi Press)
• The Invisibility Exhibit by Sachiko Murakami (Talonbooks)
• Aide-Memoire by Ruth Roach Pierson (BuschekBooks)
• More to Keep Us Warm by Jacob Scheier (ECW Press)

Drama

• Bone Cage by Catherine Banks (Playwrights Canada Press)
• 10 Days on Earth by Ronnie Burkett (Playwrights Canada Press)
• Reverend Jonah by Paul Ciufo (J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing)
• Copper Thunderbird by Marie Clements (Talonbooks)
• Palace of the End by Judith Thompson (Playwrights Canada Press)

Farley Mowat is the cover star of the November Q&Q, which is making its way to subscribers and bookstores now. In a profile by Marq de Villiers, the 87-year-old Mowat discusses some of the passions and preoccupations that have defined his career. Also in November, a closeup on two e-reading devices, the Sony Reader and Amazon’s Kindle, a look at hustler-turned-author Daniel Allen Cox, and a Special Report on College and Scholarly Publishing, covering the newly reduced Broadview Press, a new online textbook initiative, and the quirky Toronto imprint Alphabet City. All this plus reviews of new books by M.G. Vassanji, Nino Ricci, Margaret Atwood, and more. The full table of contents appears after the jump.

(more…)

A brief survey of responses to yesterday’s Giller shortlist announcement:

• Bookninja argues that Marina Endicott’s Good to a Fault got the nod by advertising on Bookninja.com
• Oddsmaker Pinnacle Sports places the smart money on Rawi Hage’s Cockroach
• IFOA blogger Andrew Westoll feels bad that Nino Ricci and Steven Galloway were left off
• Alberta librarian Peter Bailey bemoans the lack of Western Canadian nominees

On Saturday the National Post inaugurated the first in its series of articles describing the development of Nino Ricci’s new novel, The Origin of Species, which hits store shelves tomorrow. In the opening of the article, Ricci talks about finding the inspiration for the character of Esther, a young woman suffering from multiple sclerosis, in a university classmate of his who was “his first fan.” A second impetus for the novel came from farther afield:

Another key inspiration came in 2002, when Ricci visited the Galapagos Islands. Packed away in his luggage was a copy of The Voyage of the Beagle he’d had since his under-grad days at York University, where he’d first been captivated by Charles Darwin and his ideas. “I kept thinking, I gotta figure out a way to do something with this man,” he says. “I knew there was something in his thinking that coincided with a strain in my thinking.”

Future articles in the series will feature commentary from Ricci himself, his editor, publicist, and friends. The Post will follow the book as it grows legs, sheds its tail, and takes its first hesitant steps upright on land. The first real test of its evolutionary mettle comes next Monday, when the longlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, which includes Ricci’s novel, gets whittled down to five finalists. Survival of the fittest, indeed.

Here’s a slug this Quillblogger didn’t expect to see: “A short film by writer/director Paul Quarrington.”

But, according to Open Book Toronto, (and as reported by Quill & Quire Omni this past summer) the acclaimed author of the Governor General’s Award-winner Whale Music and this year’s Canada Reads champ King Leary has ventured behind the camera to shoot his first short feature, Pavane, based on his latest novel, The Ravine.

Open Book reports:

In Paul Quarrington’s short film, Pavane, Phil and Jay share more than a family bond — failed careers, failed relationships, bottomless drinks, and a debilitating memory of a shocking encounter in a ravine one childhood day.

The film will screen as part of the Book Shorts Moving Stories Film Festival, which will tour across the country beginning with a stop at the Winnipeg International Writers Festival on September 28, followed by stops in Ottawa and Vancouver in October, and Toronto in November. The festival also features work by W. Bruce Pirrie (adapting Douglas Coupland’s JPod), Bert Kish (adapting Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle), and Irene Duma (adapting Patrick Watson’s This Hour Has Seven Decades). The festival’s advisers include filmmakers Sarah Polley and Robert Lantos, writer Nino Ricci, and Random House Canada publisher Anne Collins.

Open Book has posted a trailer for the Quarrington film, and there are full profiles of the fimmakers and advisers at the Moving Stories site.

CanLit stars came out for the launch of Barbara Gowdy’s new novel Helpless.

Author John Irving, his wife Janet Turnbull-Irving and HarperCollins Canada publisher Iris Tupholme take in the evening’s events.

Books for sale.

Barbara Gowdy gets ready to start signing.

Authors Erika de Vasconcelos and Nino Ricci mingle in the crowd.

Read Q&Q’s 2003 profile of Gowdy here.

Photos from the cocktail party, ceremony and dancing at the Griffin Poetry Prize ceremony. (Photos by Tom Sandler.)

Canadian poet Erin Moure, nominated for Little Theatres, eschews the Fosbury flop on this high jump over the velvet rope.

Krystyne Griffin welcomes socialite Catherine Nugent and writer Barbara Amiel.

Nicholas Hoare Booksellers manager Ben McNally.

Griffin puts the squeeze on nominated poet Durs Grunbein, who is flanked by his translator, Michael Hoffmann.

Authors Nino Ricci and Erika de Vasconcelos.

Scott and Krystyne Griffin are joined by Scott’s parents.

Griffin listens as actor Albert Schultz explains the gold trim on his shirt.

Former head of state Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul.

Fine Print host and producer Carolyn Weaver and Thomas Allen Publishers publicist Lisa Zaritzky.

Barry Callaghan glances up from the program.